Before we wrap up the chapter, I want to talk about a concept that will play a huge part in your programming career if you choose to continue on: design patterns. Googling design patterns or software programming patterns will give you a host of definitions and examples, which can be overwhelming if you've never encountered them before. Let's simplify the term and define a design pattern as follows:

A template for solving programming problems or situations that you'll run into on a regular basis during any kind of application development. These are not hardcoded solutions—they're more like tested guidelines and best practices that can be adapted to fit a specific situation.

There's a lot of history behind how design patterns became an integral part of the programming lexicon, but that excavation is up to you. If this concept strikes a chord with your programming brain, start with Design Patterns...